Legislative hearings begin on state IT problems

The state’s computer super-agency is running about six months behind schedule putting in place a $2.3 billion contract with Northrop Grumman for information technology servvices.

Leonard Pomata, acting head of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, told lawmakers this morning that an unfinished inventory of computers and other IT equipment is at least partly to blame for the hangup.

Once that’s finished, VITA and Northrop Grumman can determine the rate agencies pay for maintenance and upkeep.

Today, at opposite ends of the Capitol, Senate and House committees are opening inquiries of the VITA-Northrop Grumman partnership, which has been criticized by legislators and state employees as pricey, and, in some cases, unnecessary.

Legislative scrutiny of the contract—the biggest privatization deal in ever in Virginia government—intensified with the firing earlier this month of Lemuel Stewart Jr., as t he state’s chief information officer.

Stewart was ousted after complaining that Northrop Grumman is not living up to its obligations under its contract with the state.